The present invention relates to a roller bottle for cell growth production, and more particularly, concerns a roller bottle with multiple interior surfaces for cell growth culturing.
Certain larger containers which are used in the laboratory and like situations for culturing of cells are commonly known as "roller bottles. " These roller bottles are generally cylindrically shaped and are adapted to rotate about their round peripheral surface. The interior surfaces of such roller bottles may be treated to provide active surfaces for the culturing of cells. When a liquid growth medium is introduced into the roller bottle, the rotating movement of the bottle keeps the interior surfaces wetted with the liquid medium thereby encouraging the growth of cells. Rotating rollers in an appropriate apparatus are employed to rotate these roller bottles. Many times the rotating apparatus is adapted to be placed inside an incubator or incubating room to control the temperature of cell growth inside the roller bottles.
Oftentimes in research, commercial or industrial laboratories it is necessary to grow large amounts of cells, mostly for cell by-products, such as pharmaceutical substances that are secreted by cells; for example, insulin, interferon, urokinase or viral vaccines. Standard roller bottles have been somewhat successful in increasing the yield of cell growth inasmuch as the entire inside peripheral surface area can be utilized for cell culturing.
In conceiving ways to increase the yield of growing cells in roller bottles, there are substantial constraints which have to be considered in suggesting improvements. In particular, roller bottle rotation apparatuses are widely used in standard sizes and incubators. These apparatuses are in place in many laboratories and are designed to accept roller bottles of a specific size and shape. To replace these rotational apparatuses would be expensive and cause substantial lack of standardization throughout the laboratory field. Thus, the outside configuration or diameter of roller bottles is generally not one of the parameters which would be disturbed in making improvements to standard roller bottles.
Moreover, in the fabrication of the roller bottles, the manufacturing processes place constraints on the overall longitudinal dimension of the bottle which can be formed. Taking into consideration the diameter of the bottle and the strength requirements which it needs to be selfsupporting, these kinds of roller bottles face a practical limitation in the overall length dimension. And, as mentioned above with respect to the roller bottle apparatus, even if fabrication technology would allow unlimited length formation, the bottles cannot be so long that they would not fit the standard type apparatus. Accordingly, improvements in roller bottles for increasing cell growth area, for practical purposes, would be generally limited to modifications of the interior surfaces of the roller bottle.
Various containers or bottles have been disclosed which include an interior compartment within an outer compartment or housing. These types of containers are typified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,856,138; 3,314,563; 1,364,763; and 714,968. The inventions disclosed in these patents are generally directed to multi-compartment containers generally adapted to form receptacles for holding several different kinds of liquids. However, the art of bottles, and roller bottles in particular, has not been known to teach the inclusion of a preferably concentric multi-interior surfaced roller bottle, such interior surfaces having been treated to have cell growth thereon. It is to such an improvement of the interior surfaces of a roller bottle for increasing the yield of cell growth that the present invention is directed.